The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsNico Rosberg stormed to his 5th victory of the season and 13th of his career in Brazil, while newly-crowned champion and team-mate Lewis Hamilton had to settle for 2nd after several failed attempts to mount an attack on the German. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel rounded up the top 3, thus joining Mercedes’ podium party for already the 9th time this year.
As far as on-tack action is concerned, there wasn’t much to look out for apart from several brilliant overtaking moves into turn 1 by the likes of Verstappen and Grosjean. Not exactly an exciting race, however it generated some important talking points which I’m going to cover next.
Front-wing complexity to blame for lack of overtakes?
This race highlighted yet another problem that F1 faces today: the fact that much of the car’s downforce is generated by the front wing means that often drivers find it difficult to follow closely and mount attacks because of driving in thinner air which pretty much throws a large amount of grip out of the window. At one point Hamilton was 0.5-0.6 behind Rosberg, but the Briton failed to get any closer, as he quickly destroyed his tyres completely as a result of several laps of running in close proximity to his teammate. The battle up front seemed to be shaping up nicely and it looked like we could see another Bahrain 2014 duel between the two, but as it turned out, we were quick to get our hopes up. I sincerely hope they go ahead with the plans to, in some way at least, bring back ground effect for 2017 and simplify the design of the front-wing as it could produce better racing on tracks such as Interlagos.
Pole positions crucial for the title
The problem with the difficulty to follow has lead me realize something: the 2015 rule of thumb has been that whoever is ahead after the first lap usually goes on to win the race. That’s why we’ve hardly seen any battles between HAM and ROS this year, as both of them seem able to pull a gap on his teammate and control it from there once they are in front. Rosberg showed it in Spain, Mexico and Brazil while Lewis did it on many more occasions. That’s why I think around 70% of Lewis’ title success this year could be attributed to his 11 poles and better first lap performance against his teammate. Lewis himself is known for saying that pole positions are not that important, but his upturn in qualifying performance this year may have helped him clinch the title more that he probably thinks. Had Nico Rosberg not lost his groove on Saturday’s this year, the season could have gone on an entirely different path.
Conspiracy at Mercedes?
After the race, some were quick to suggest that Nico Rosberg’s latest run of wins and poles is due to the team favouring the German in order to help him fend off Sebastian Vettel for 2nd place in the Driver’s Championship. While I don’t necessarily think this is the case, some clues dropped here and there by Mercedes’ management staff has lead people wondering about the whole situation. Before the Grand Prix, Mercedes’s Toto Wolff told The Guardian that “There is a gentleman at the back of the room who needs to finish second in the championship so that is important” adding that “The primary objective is to make Nico score a lot of points to secure second in the championship. Lewis is absolutely aware this is a team exercise.” What exactly does that mean is up for interpretation I guess , but it’s still entirely possible that Rosberg has just been able to have to measure of Hamilton on his own as of late, be it attributed to the pressure being eased off, the parts on the car suiting him better, Hamilton’s lack of motivation or anything else besides conspiracy theories. What really matters is whether Nico would be able to carry his new-found form into 2016 in order to challenge for the title. We shall wait and see.
Mercedes playing it safe
There has also been some debate on the topic of Mercedes’ denying Lewis Hamilton to use a different strategy than his team-mate. Hamilton sounded desperate on the radio, asking the team for alternatives as he couldn’t get close enough for an overtake. Opinions may be divided, but I tend to agree with Paddy Lowe on this one. According to him, the strategy that both of the drivers were on was the best one, and switching to a different one could be detrimental to Lewis’ race. Even if there was a better strategy to go with, the team still would not agree to get just Hamilton on it, because it would mean favouring Lewis, who was running in P2, over Nico, who was leading the race.
Verstappen – the star of the show yet again
The young Dutchman produced another fine drive to finish in P9, scoring points for the sixth race in the row, a record for a Toro Rosso driver. His confidence under braking and determination shone through once again as he turned quite a few heads with his overtaking moves on Felipe Nasr and Sergio Perez. Max’s stock continue to be on the rise, and it’s only bolstered by the race result which means he has wrapped up the inter-team battle with his teammate Carlos Sainz on both fronts: qualifying and race day, now leading 8-6* in both compartments. It’s a been a fantastic rookie year. For sure, those who, at the beginning of the season, were quick to criticise Max’s sudden promotion to F1 at such an young age are now eating their words. He still may be reckless at times and prone to rookie mistakes, but he nevertheless proved what he needed to prove by constantly keeping up and even getting the better of his more experienced, older competitors.
Hamilton secures the DHL Fastest Lap award
Lewis Hamilton’s time of 1:14.832 posted on lap 51 proved to be the fastest of the race. It’s the Briton’s 7th fastest lap of the year, which means that he clinches the DHL Fastest Lap award for the 2nd year in a row with one race to spare. His closest rival, Nico Rosberg who amassed 5 fastest laps this season is now out of contention for the award. While fastest laps aren’t that important are are mostly just statistic, Hamilton would be glad to find out that he has now secured all this year’s driver awards: the championship, the FIA Pole Trophy and the DHL Fastest Lap Award. Hamilton’s tally is now 27, just one shy of Jim Clark’s 28 and Nigel Mansell’s British record of 30 career fastest laps.
Force India secures best ever 5th place in the Constructors’
What a year is has been for the Silverstone based squad. Facing major financial problems at the beginning of the season and their car laking pace, it looked like Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez would endure a very difficult year. Back then, surely nobody could predict such an impressive turn-around. Somewhere before the mid-season point, Force India became a regular points scorer and one of the strongest midfield teams. With their B-spec car, first run at the British Grand Prix, the teams introduced some rather clever aero designs such as the nostrils on the car. It’s certainly nice seeing smaller teams such as Force India come up with such inventive solutions and reap the benefits. Force India has come a long way since Vijay Mallya’s team entered the sport in 2008 and is now poised for great things in future if that Aston Martin deal goes though.
